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Atelier NorthSarasota · Design-Build
Courtyard Renewal concept project — A dark island house turned inside out around a shaded courtyard.

Coastal Renovation · Longboat Key · 2024

Courtyard Renewal

Project brief

A dark island house turned inside out around a shaded courtyard.

Concept work. This project is a fictional portfolio concept — the client, location detail, ranges, and results are invented to illustrate how the studio works.

A 1988 island house with a deep plan, low ceilings, and almost no daylight at its centre. The owners spend six months a year here and wanted the house to feel breathable without air conditioning running constantly, and to work as an easy two-person home that occasionally sleeps eight.

Location
Longboat Key
Scope
3,050 sq ft coastal renovation, new courtyard, envelope replacement
Concept investment
Concept range: $980,000 – $1.15M
Duration
15 months, design through completion

The design challenge

The centre of the plan was more than thirty feet from any exterior wall, so no amount of new glazing at the perimeter would have reached it. Salt exposure had also failed the original window assemblies and the west-facing rooms were unusable from two o'clock onward.

The solution

We removed a 22-by-18-foot block of the interior and replaced it with an open courtyard, then wrapped the surrounding rooms in full-height glass facing into it. Every principal room now has daylight from two directions and a cross-breeze path. Cedar louvered screens on the west elevation cut direct afternoon gain, and the entire envelope was rebuilt with impact glazing and a rainscreen assembly.

Material palette

What the house is made of

  • Shell-stone paving

    Courtyard floor and terrace, split-face edges

  • Western red cedar

    Louvered screens, soffits, and the courtyard bench

  • Olive-gray joinery

    Kitchen and guest-wing cabinetry, lacquered

  • Bronze-anodised frames

    Impact-rated glazing throughout

  • Lime-washed plaster

    Courtyard and interior walls

Hover or focus a material to read its specification note.

Annotated gallery

Courtyard Renewal in detail

  • Interior courtyard with a single tree, shell-stone paving, and cedar louvered screens
    01The courtyard replaced 396 sq ft of unlit interior. One gumbo-limbo carries the whole composition.
  • Sunlit gallery corridor facing a courtyard through full-height glass
    02The gallery links guest wing to living wing and doubles as the cross-ventilation path.
  • Cedar louvre detail against plaster wall and limestone sill
    03West-elevation louvres are fixed at 32 degrees — enough to cut summer sun, low enough to keep the view.
  • Living room with linen upholstery and pale oak floors opening to a terrace
    04Living wing, looking back toward the courtyard glazing.

Plan diagram — Courtyard Renewal

Schematic after plan diagram for Courtyard RenewalOPEN LIVINGNEW VOLUMETERRACE

Schematic diagram, not a construction drawing. Concept illustration only.

  • After
  • Open courtyard at the centre of the plan
  • Guest wing separated by the gallery corridor
  • Impact glazing and rainscreen envelope throughout
  • Fixed cedar louvres shading the west elevation

Results

What changed

  • Every principal room now daylit from two directions
  • Concept model shows cooling demand reduced by roughly a third during shoulder seasons
  • Guest wing separated acoustically from the primary side of the house
  • Full envelope replacement: impact glazing, rainscreen cladding, new roof